


in the morning

by elinciacrimea



Series: a gentle sunlight [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Bad Future/Lucina's Timeline, F/F, Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-27 01:11:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20751860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elinciacrimea/pseuds/elinciacrimea
Summary: A quiet, lazy morning in Ylisstol.Written for day four of Lissabelle Week, "youth/peace."





	in the morning

**Author's Note:**

> \- The boys are about five and six here? Again, with somewhat advanced vocabularies, but we all know Ma taught them to read very young

Faint sunlight spreads across the bedspread, made patchy by drapes and the shadows of furniture. It illuminates Lissa, making her hair glow with a soft halo. Even despite the snoring, she looks beautiful, Maribelle thinks as she watches her, still half-asleep herself.

Lissa's eyes open slowly, and then she smiles. "Morning."

"Good morning, darling." Maribelle brushes a curl back from her wife's face.

Lissa yawns. "What time is it?"

"Late enough that we should probably get up," Maribelle confesses, casting a glance at the hands of the traitorous clock across the room from them.

Lissa moans, tugging the covers up to her chin. "I don't want to."

Maribelle can't say she wants to, either, even as she rolls onto her back, readying her body to make the move out of bed. The covers are tangled around her, as ever, but the mattress is wide and spacious enough to fit at least two more full-grown people - a necessity, given the difficulty of being a bed partner to Maribelle. Birdsong is echoing in the trees outside.

"It's too early," Lissa sighs, stretching.

"Won't it always be?" Maribelle forces herself into a sitting position and shakes Lissa's shoulder gently. "Come on, darling. You know we have responsibilities."

"Yeah, but..." Lissa reaches out to tug on the sleeve of Maribelle's nightgown. "Don't I get a good-morning kiss?

"I suppose you do," says Maribelle as she rolls back to face Lissa, unable to keep the laughter out of her eyes, but Lissa only smiles, leaning up. She kisses her gently, slowly, like the rays of sun that are painting her face - 

There's a hesitant knock at their door, followed immediately by a sharper rap.

"And there are two of those responsibilities, I daresay," says Maribelle with a sigh. Lissa giggles.

"Ma? Mom?" There's a creaking sound from the handle, one Maribelle knows from experience is the sound of a small figure hanging off it. "Can we come in yet? We knocked."

"I heard," says Lissa. "Good job."

"It's awfully early," Maribelle says halfheartedly as the door swings open and feet pad across the bedroom floor. "Didn't we talk about this just a few days ago?"

"Yeah, we did." Brady's hugging his teddy bear against his chest, free hand clinging to his brother's sleeve. "You said not to come in your room 'til the sun's up. An' it's up. See?" He jabs his chin towards the window.

"Plus, Brady had a nightmare," Owain announces. "And he was scared."

"Was not!" Brady's face goes bright red. "_You're_ the one who said, let's go see if Ma and Mom are awake yet - "

"Boys, please," Lissa groans. "No fighting til after breakfast. Okay?"

"But _Mom_ \- "

"Shh. Come on, then." Lissa lifts up the edge of the blankets. "Let's see how much longer we can get away with staying in bed before your mother gets impatient with us."

"Lissa," Maribelle sighs as Brady and Owain clamber up onto the mattress. "We were trying to discourage this habit."

"It's already morning, isn't it? And they made it the whole night." Lissa rolls back to face Maribelle, both boys hanging off her. "C'mon, just a few minutes?"

Maribelle looks at three sets of puppy-dog eyes, two gray and one red, and knows the battle is already lost. "Very well, but only a few. We really do have to get up soon."

"Lazy morning!" Lissa cheers, ruffling Owain's hair. He's already telling her about his dream, something about a dramatic fight between forces of good and evil involving a great deal of violence. Maribelle reminds herself that she needs to take Chrom off bedtime story duty.

Brady is more subdued than his brother, his small face pinched up. "Ma - "

"Mother," Maribelle answers automatically.

"Ma," Brady continues as he crawls over Lissa and into the space between his mothers. "Can I tell you somethin'?"

"What is it?" Maribelle asks. Brady curls up next to her, not quite cuddling but obviously sneaking comfort. Maribelle takes the hint, slipping her arm over him. "Is something wrong?"

"...Just got scared," Brady mumbles. "'M probably being a baby."

"Everyone gets scared," says Maribelle. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"Not really…" Brady hugs his bear tighter. "Just...the monsters aren't gonna get ya, right, Ma?"

"Certainly not," says Maribelle indignantly. "No creature, alive or dead, has ever bested me before. And none ever shall, if I have anything to say about it."

"Yeah…but I have scary dreams..."

"Cheer up, honey," Lissa chimes in, rolling over to face them. Owain is hanging off her back. Lissa has always been patient with the boys using her as their personal jungle gym. "Bad dreams always go away in the morning, right?"

"Right…"

"Plus, once I saw your Ma beat up a big Risen with just her parasol." Lissa nods seriously. "So I don't think you've got anything to worry about, kiddo."

"The legendary parasol-fu!" Owain cheers. "Ma's deadliest weapon!"

Maribelle strokes Brady's hair, trying to keep her own worry off her face. She's always tried to avoid discussing the war and its dangers in front of the boys, but Brady's always been...sensitive. _Delicate, _even if Maribelle avoids using the word in front of her wife. And Brady watches, always, even when they think he isn't looking.

He picks up on the smallest things. She ought to be more careful.

Parenting hasn't gone quite how Maribelle thought it would. Still, while Maribelle might allow many things she always assumed she wouldn't, like crawling into mothers' bed and sweets before dinner, she's determined on one rule. Maribelle won't allow her boys to grow up in a world shadowed by fear. No matter how much work it takes.

"Ma?"

"It's nothing, dear," says Maribelle. "Nothing at all. We're all safe here, all right? Remember that."

"Mmmhmm…" Brady leans against her shoulder. His eyelids are fluttering shut.

"Don't fall asleep now, Brady!" Owain shakes his brother's shoulder. "It's morning already! What kind of hero of justice sleeps through the day?"

"'M not sleepin'!" Brady scowls. "Just restin' my eyes…"

"I see through your lies, foul villain! Draw your weapon at once!"

Lissa props her head up on her hand. "Where do you get this stuff, buddy?"

"Wherever he's gettin' it, he needs to get it away from me," Brady grouses, curling up closer to Maribelle. "'Cause it's annoying."

"Brady got the grumps, huh?" Lissa shakes her head. "So tragic. They've claimed another victim!"

"Oh no!" Owain gasps, pressing his hand to his forehead in a fit of dramatics. "Whatever are we to do, Mother?"

"I bet snuggles would fix it!" Lissa declares brightly. "Come on!"

Neither of them needs further prompting; Owain pounces on both Brady and Maribelle with a crow of triumph, and Lissa laughs as she flings her arms around all of them. Brady squawks indignantly, his protests lost in all of their laughter, but despite his grumbling he's smiling too as they roll together across the bed.

War lurks outside their door, Maribelle thinks as she pushes Owain's foot out of her face. Never for a moment will she forget that fact.

Right now, though, her wife and children laugh. And Maribelle will cherish that peace, however long it lasts.

**Author's Note:**

> \- That's the last fic I have for Lissabelle week, but I'm planning at least two fics set in this 'verse at sometime in the (near? distant? I never know) future! Thank you for reading :)


End file.
